


Accidentally in Love

by Pumbie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-09 21:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15276645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pumbie/pseuds/Pumbie
Summary: When Veronica woke up and found herself tangled with the Jughead Jones, her life turned upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

She wasn't entirely sure what had woken her up.

It could have been the light seeping in through the crack in the curtains. It could have been the quiet ringing she could hear from a phone in another room. It could have been the slightly uncomfortable position she had been sleeping in that had caused her arm to go numb. Or it could have been the weight of an arm around her waist and deep sleeping breaths she could hear from over her shoulder.

Either way it took her hung over mind a few moments to register and comprehend that there was indeed someone else in the bed with her. A very comfortable bed at that.

Images of the night before slowly appeared in her head. Vegas, her and two of her friends had come here for a long weekend to celebrate their recent success. Veronica promoted to a Junior Executive, even though it was in the family business, Cheryl getting a permanent weekly column at the magazine she worked at, and Josie well… finally breaking up with her no-good boyfriend. Yeah, definitely a weekend worth the celebration.

She didn't feel in the mood for celebrating right now.

Slowly she opened her eyes, she was lying in a large four-poster bed and the room was immaculate, except for the random articles of clothing that had been thrown around. Clearly, she was in a hotel room, a posh one at that, but decidedly not her own hotel room. One of the windows had been opened to its max – a huge one inch – so one of the flowing floor-ceiling curtains was blowing and swaying in the breeze being created, it was this movement that provided light to the darkened room, a light that could have woken her.

She reached up with her arm, shielding her eyes from the minuscule amount of light that stung at her bleary eyes. It was that movement that caused a reaction to the person behind her, suddenly bringing her attention to the situation she had definitely not planned for.

The person had groaned before then rolling away from her. It was a distinctly male noise, deep and masculine. Jesus, she prayed he would still be asleep so then she could just sneak out; she wasn't a huge cuddling person, especially when it came to strangers and one night stands.

Cautiously she peeked over her shoulder to see whether or not the man was still asleep. He had thrown his arm over his eyes so she couldn't actually tell, but she was willing to take her chances. She took just a moment longer to admire the man she had so drunkenly picked out last night, she almost started to congratulate herself as well, couldn't have done much better if she had actually tried.

His hair was dark and at that perfect length where it could be shaggy and sexy yet also styled perfectly if you tried, not a look she would usually go for, that traditional handsome aristocratic look was something she usually rebelled against, because usually the men behind them were arrogant trust fund babies that didn't know the meaning of hard work. Not that she wasn't a trust fund baby myself. Maybe that was another reason why, her parents seemed to run her life so she had always picked to date guys she knew they wouldn't entirely approve of, whether it be their own financial situation, upbringing, parents, views of the world, dreams, and goals for the future, there was always something her parents wouldn't agree upon. A man that looked like the one beside her, her Mother would probably swoon at his feet. Gag-worthy she knew.

The sheets were wound around his waist, but the torso she could see was definitely one you could pick out on a crowded beach. But there was something her parents would hate, tattoos. She could see two of them, one on his shoulder and one just peeking out from beneath the sheet that she couldn't entirely see.

She took a closer glance at the one on his shoulder, it was printed on the right side, a snake. She frowned, it almost seemed familiar. Why would it be familiar to her? She didn't think she even knew a man who had gotten a tattoo, a couple of her female friends, yes, but one of the men-

"What the fuck!" she suddenly yelled, recognition forming in her brain.

No, no way in hell. No, she wouldn't dare go near him even if she was out of her mind drunk.

"Jesus, keep your fucking voice down would you?" was the sleepy nonchalant reply she got.

She sat up, holding the sheets above her naked torso. No, no it wasn't him. It couldn't be.

"Jughead, Jughead fucking Jones." The anger and disbelief were evident in her voice. Maybe it was that tone that finally caused a reaction from him.

He lowered his arm from his face, his bright blue eyes sluggishly opening and turning on her. Disbelief then covered his own face. Shit. Shit. Shit. What the fuck had she done?

They sat there for a few moments just looking at each other, probably both hoping that it was only a dream, a sick and cruel twisted dream, no nightmare. But he was still there, lying in front of her.

Out of everyone in the whole fucking world that she could have had sex with it had to be him. Really, was fate punishing her or something?

Jughead Jones, even his name caused hate and disgust to bubble up inside her, after all it had practically been ingrained in her for nearly the last two decades to hate him and his entire family. Funny considering they grew up being neighbors. Their fathers had once been best friends, met in college and all that stuff, eventually they decided to start a business together, Lodge and Jones it had been called, a financing company that actually made a huge splash and moved in leaps and bounds. Then for some reason she can't even remember, they had a falling out, she was seven at the time so it was all a blur really, she just remember being upset because they moved away, Jughead and his sister had been best friends to her up until that point, hardly surprising considering that their parents had always just lumped us together.

The company split, Daddy went on to make his own, Lodge Industries, and Jughead's father started his own, Jones Financing, which for obvious reasons became leading rivals in the industry. So knowing that since she was seven years old she hated anything Jones, how in the hell did she end up in Jughead Jones' bed?

"Shit." He mumbled, breaking the silence. He sat up then and swung his legs over the side of the bed, showing her his back and revealing yet another tattoo, Jesus how many did he have? She had only heard about the snake one, and then it was only from an acquaintance that had the poorest sense to sleep with him one night. Wow guess this means she didn't have any sense either.

"I didn't realize you had so many tattoos." her voice was scornful even though she couldn't help but admire them.

"I didn't realize you would stick around in the morning," was his sullen reply as he looked around on the floor, probably for an item of clothing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" her eyebrows had sunk in confusion.

He shrugged while picking up something by his feet. "Aren't you supposed to be the Ice Queen or something? Never hanging around long and breaking guy's hearts left right and center."

"Ice Queen?" her voice was now rising in anger, is that what she was known as? Was that her reputation? Sure she had a handful of one night stands and didn't hang around for the guy to wake up in the morning, but shouldn't they know the deal? She wasn't going to make them breakfast and dote on them for the rest of the day. Besides, wouldn't he be glad she left before he woke up? Isn't that what guys are all about?

He merely shrugged again before standing and pulling on a pair of cotton boxer briefs, cotton boxer briefs that he could definitely fill out. Wait what? No she was not checking him out. No, no way in hell.

He walked away from the bed then, heading towards a door that led into a bathroom she presumed, closing it softly behind him. She took this moment alone to look around for her own clothes, with an infuriated growl she saw her underwear lying closer to the door he just disappeared into than the bed she was sitting in. No way was she going to walk all the way over there, naked, with the potential for him to walk out and see her. She looked further but couldn't find any more of her own clothes, where in hell are they?

She sighed then and lent down to pick up one of Jughead's shirts off the floor, it should be long enough to cover her until she found her clothes, after all Jughead wasn't exactly short. It was blue in color and fell to her mid-thigh when she stood out of bed. It would have to do.

She scurried across the room and picked up her flimsy excuse for a pair of underpants, red, see-through and lacy; they had seemed like a great idea last night when she got ready. A shame only Jughead got to see them, she would probably throw them out the first opportunity she got now.

Just as she had slipped them on, the door opened and Jughead once again reappeared.

One of his eyebrows rose as he took in the sight of me. "Good look, Ronnie-Bonnie." He scoffed. She knew a furious expression then appeared on her face because he started laughing. She hated that nickname; it was something his smart-ass five year old self had come up with, in one of his moments of genius clearly.

She huffed and turned away from him, heading into the lounge area to find, hopefully, the rest of her clothes. There they all were thrown about the room in the no doubt drunken ecstasy they had been in at the time. God she was going to vomit just thinking about it. Quickly she picked them all up and pulled them on, she wasn't going to let Jughead get another chance at a sneak peek. The only thing she was now missing were her socks, and with the boots she was wearing last night, she would definitely need them to protect her feet from blisters on her walk back to her own hotel. She couldn't find them lying on the floor anywhere so decided they must have disappeared under the furniture, on her hands and knees she searched the room, heading over to the coffee table to look under the couches.

Instead, she found something else entirely.

There was a collection of papers and photos sitting on the coffee table, curious by nature she just had to go over and look at them. If it was Jones Financing related then even better, though why would Jughead bring work with him when he was obviously in Vegas for a vacation she didn't know.

The first couple of papers were some sort of itinerary; he had been here for a week to discuss some deal with a casino/hotel owner, huh he was actually here on business. His secretary or whoever had carefully planned out his days with meetings, lunches, and dinners, whilst also giving him some downtime. His flight was scheduled to leave at three this afternoon, guess that was why he was out partying last night, he must have scored the deal.

Under that was a folder which contained the contract or something, she was about to start reading it over to find out any information she could, call it snooping if you will, when a photo sitting underneath it caught her eye.

It was of Jughead, his friend Archie, her and her friend Cheryl, and judging from the clothes she was wearing; it had been taken last night. What really shocked her was that Jughead and she were standing together being flanked by their friends. Their arms were wound around each other's shoulders, and bright drunken smiles graced their faces, by the looks of the champagne bottle in Archie's hand she would have to guess they were celebrating something. It was then she took in the background of the photo, they were standing in front of one of those cheap white chapel wedding venues that were dotted all over Vegas for impromptu weddings, God they were tacky.

Her eyes narrowed then, why were they standing in front of a wedding chapel?

Slowly her gaze drifted to her left hand, a realization suddenly dawning on her. There sitting on that oh-so-important finger was a ring. It was gold but inlaid with small diamonds right the way around, it actually looked quite beautiful. The moment of shock suddenly wore off and she screamed.

Jughead practically came running out of the room, buttoning up a pair of well-fitting jeans and looked around as though he was expecting someone to be attacking her. Though if someone were, why would he even care?

He paused, confusion clouding his face. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she yelled back at him, standing up and waving the photo at him even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see it clearly from where he stood. "Everything is fucking wrong, that's what. I mean honestly, I must have been some serial killer of innocent children in a past life to deserve this fucking karma. I don't think anything could be more wrong!"

"Jesus, okay calm down for a second." He had put his hands up in a surrendering position. "Do you want to explain it to me?"

She collapsed back down on to the couch she had been sitting on, the last piece of paper in the pile now blatantly staring up at her. It was a marriage certificate that proudly proclaimed that Veronica Cecilia Lodge was now legally married to Forsythe Pendleton Jones III. Oh, kill her now.

Her head fell into her hands and she did everything she could not to cry. Her life was over; her Dad was going to kill her. Literally.

She heard Jughead slowly approaching, obviously wary of her after her shouting. "Umm… Veronica, are you okay?" He actually sounded concerned.

All she did was point at the marriage certificate sitting on the table. She couldn't even speak right now, she felt drained, resigned to die she guessed. She sounded like a drama queen but she didn't even know how angry her Dad would get at her because of this, she didn't even know if he will be able to handle that amount, he'd probably have a heart attack.

There were several moments of silence before she heard Jughead walked and sat beside her.

"Your Father is going to kill me," she just nodded, her head still buried in her hands. "What are we going to do?" she shrugged.

It was a moment or two before she felt his hand softly on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright Veronica; a quickie wedding can get a quickie divorce, right?" Was he trying to comfort her?

"I don't think there is such a thing as a quickie divorce," she replied, her voice sounded lifeless.

"Well, we'll just have to figure it out." He said with a set determination. "Aren't there annulments or something? I'm sure we would qualify for one of those. As soon as I get back to New York I'll see the lawyer about it."

"How did this even happen?" she said still in a state of disbelief. "I mean really what were we thinking? Why would we want to…? God, I can't even remember a thing about last night."

Jughead stayed silent next to her, his hand softly brushing up and down her back in a calming way, or at least it was supposed to be calming, it didn't really have that fortunate effect. She was still wound up tight and his hand seemed to only make her more on edge. She shook it off roughly, not liking this suddenly concerned Jughead, where were all his snide remarks and cutting insults? They were the only interactions they had over the last decade or so, since the time they were old enough to understand the other as the enemy. It made high school exhausting she can tell you that, though people generally knew to keep them apart as much as possible, unless they wanted a screaming match with as much ferocity to stop a T-Rex in his tracks. Yeah, they were fairly immature about it in those days, always trying to get the better of the other. The four years away from him at college had been a paradise, she was actually able to get out from under that repressive shadow and by the time they both came back to New York to start work for their respected companies, well they had grown up quite a bit and generally avoided one another, something made not so easy when they ran in similar social circles.

"I blame you." she suddenly said breaking the silence. "This is your entire fault."

She stood up angrily and once again began the search for her socks.

"My fault? Personally, I think it takes two to get into this situation." He replied back, almost haughtily.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't taken advantage of my inebriated state. You saw your opportunity to utterly humiliate her and took it without even a second thought," she said back, voice rising in volume as her anger returned. The search for her socks once again abandoned.

"You think I did this to humiliate you? Are you fucking out of your mind? How do I know it wasn't you who took advantage of my inebriated state? Huh?" He had now stood from the couch and matched her anger.

"Because why would I even want to be within ten miles of you, let alone get married to you? You are the most horrible, vile, vulgar bastard I know, it's practically nauseating how you think you own the world, so why would I want to commit myself to a lifetime of that? Huh?"

"Because you know I'm just so irresistible, Ronnie." He sneered sarcastically. "You can't get enough of me so why not put a ring on it?"

"Is that what this is about? Some boost to your already over-inflated man ego because I'm the one woman in fucking New York City that would turn you down. Really? You would go to these extremes just to prove to you and your little posse of eager admirers that you can have anyone you want?"

He let out a humorless laugh then. "Like I would have to marry you to prove that, we all know you're not some celibate virgin. If I wanted to sleep with you then I would, I wouldn't have to go through all that 'To have and to hold' bullshit."

"I wouldn't sleep with you even if you were the last man on Earth; you probably drugged me or something to make it happen!"

There was a tense silence after her outburst, and she immediately backed down, she had gone too far, way too far. As much as she hated Jughead and could make an entire book just on his faults and personality traits that were infuriating to anyone in a ten mile radius, one thing he would never do would be to harm a woman, whether it be un-consensual sex or domestic violence or whatever, he would never raise his hand against a woman. After all the years they had been picking fights with each other, after all the times she had punched him in the arm, kicked him in the shins, or slapped him across the face, never once had he got violent, and there was no one he hated more than her. She almost felt guilty. Almost.

"Wow." His voice was deadly calm. "You're accusing me of drugging you now? What's next, going to call the cops and tell them I raped you too? Get your worthless ass out of my fucking hotel room. Now."

He turned away and walked back into the bedroom, he didn't have to ask her twice.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a week later when she next saw Jughead. She was lying on her bed at eleven o'clock in the morning, making it a lazy Sunday for her. The ring she had so adamantly yanked off her finger as soon as leaving his hotel room, now sat like a shining beacon on her bedside table that kept drawing her eye.

When she had made it back to her own hotel room, Cheryl and Josie had practically bombarded her, they remembered bits and pieces from the night before to figure out what happened and where she had been. Fortunately, being the good friends that they are, sat with her while she cried about the situation, and then agreed not to tell anyone. It was easy with them, they didn't judge her though she had expected them to at least say something scathing considering everything they knew about Jughead had come out of her mouth, so their opinions of him were undoubtedly negative. But they didn't, in fact, Cheryl even complimented her on having rather good drunk eyes because, in her words, "No other man in that bar looked as delicious as Jughead", she had glared at her and given her the silent treatment like a moody teenager after that.

Monday had been different though, she was back in New York and having her first day as Junior Executive at the company, she couldn't look her Dad in the eye, in fact she had avoided him as much as possible, he had invited her over for a celebratory dinner at the family house, Mother wanted to see her but of course she had to politely turn it down. How could she interact normally with her family when she knew they would hate her so much if they knew what she had done? Every second she was in contact with Dad at work, she was worried she would just blurt it out, she wanted to tell him, she did, she felt like she was betraying him, but she knew he would be angry, she knew how he would react, so she figured it would probably be best to see what her options were first.

God it was such a mess.

Jughead had told her that he would approach his lawyers about it, and she was oddly reassured by that. Out of everyone she could be in this situation with, she would never ever even think of him, but at least she knew he was the type of person who would take charge and get it sorted, unlike her who just seemed to shut down. She was actually feeling comforted by his take-charge attitude that she usually associated with him being bossy. It was a strange feeling, after all she couldn't approach her own lawyers about it; her Dad had them eating out of his hand so no doubt they would run to him immediately after she brought it up, client confidentially or not. She just hoped Jughead's own lawyers weren't the same.

She got her answer when she heard the faint knock on her apartment door.

She got out of bed, not really bothering to get changed; after all it was most likely just Cheryl and/or Josie coming over to celebrate her one week anniversary, like they had threatened to do. The knock once again sounded, Jesus they were being impatient today.

"I'm coming," she called as she crossed the entrance way. She opened the door with a scowl on her face, clearly showing how she felt about being dragged out of bed on her lazy Sunday, but it disappeared instantly. "Jughead? What the hell are you doing here?"

She grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside, quickly checking to see if anyone had seen him in the hallway. She closed the door and turned to face him, arms crossed and expression angry.

She saw his eyes travel over her, before reaching her face once again. "Clearly being proactive rather than sitting around in my pajamas," was his sarcastic reply.

She let out an irritated growl, realizing he was right and she was now revealing far more of herself to him that she ever wished, not that he hadn't seen her in less. She stormed past him and into her bedroom, changing from her flimsy crop top and short tight little 'booty shorts' as Cheryl called them, into something far more substantial.

"So again what are you doing here?" she called as she exited her bedroom, to find him clearly making himself at home by going through her fridge. She calmed herself at that annoyance, better to just get to the point and have him leave.

"We can't get an annulment." He said calmly, closing the fridge and biting into an apple.

"What? Why not?" she asked in outrage, his calmness seemed to infuriate her even more than his revelation. How could he not be angry about this? Wasn't this their only chance at getting a quickie divorce and keeping this all quiet?

"Not enough evidence to support the claim we were both too intoxicated to consent to the marriage." Jughead said around his chewing, God didn't his parents ever teach him that you shouldn't eat and talk at the same time. It's disgusting. "And considering all our witnesses were intoxicated at the same time, it makes them unreliable."

"What about the photo? We are both clearly drunk in that."

"Yeah, but one photo isn't enough. Trust me, I tried everything Veronica, we can't get an annulment."

She sat on the couch and slumped down. "So what do we do now?"

"We will have to get a proper divorce, only that means we will have to tell our parents."

"What? No way, no way in hell," she had shot up from the couch she had so thoroughly looked defeated on.

"We have to, divorce will require actually meeting up to discuss things, could even be put in front of a judge if we don't agree on things. Either way, our parents will find out, it'll go on the public record or something, isn't it better to tell them ourselves?"

He was right, and dammit she hated admitting that. If they were getting an annulment it would be so much easier, but divorce actually took time and effort to get through, no doubt Dad and everyone would find out about it. God, this could not get any worse.

She sighed. "Fine, when are we going to tell them?"

"Today, that way we can start the divorce proceedings much sooner, and I think we should tell them together, you know show them a united front and all."

She sighed again. "Okay, yours or mine first?"

"Mine are at a charity fundraiser, are yours doing anything today?"

She shook her head. "Nope, they are free." There was a moment of silence then. "Well, I'm going to go get ready, umm… make yourself at home, even though you already have."

It was an hour later that she saw her family home appearing before her. Yes, it had taken an hour, she had tried as much as she could to delay coming here; she knew this would end badly. Very badly. Jughead had eventually dragged her out of her apartment, after he realized she was only dawdling for time, trying to convince her it would be better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

Jughead pulled up into the driveway she had indicated, the front gates were open like they usually were during day if people were home. Oh God, this was going to be bad, her hands had started sweating and she was chewing on her lip nervously. At least if her Dad killed Jughead they wouldn't have to get divorced, not that it was an exactly cheerful thought.

Jughead pulled the car to a stop and turned the engine off. "Ready?" he asked, she nodded nervously, hesitating even more before finally opening her door and stepping out. Slowly, she slipped the ring back onto her finger, before turning to face Jughead and proceeding up the front steps.

Rosie, their dear old housekeeper, was in the entrance dusting when she walked in, a huge smile broke out on her face when she saw her, but that immediately fell when she saw Jughead behind her. Even she recognized a Jones when she saw one. She looked at her in horror and confusion before pointing down the hallway to the main living room; she nodded to her in thanks.

This was it.

"Veronica honey, what a nice surprise." her Mother's voice suddenly sounded as she walked into her line of sight, she was sitting at the dining table no doubt going through her list of social events to prepare for, and Dad was sitting on the couch on the other side of the room, watching a football replay.

"Veronica," her Dad's voice warned when he saw who was with her. At the corner of her eye, she could see Jughead casually leaning against the wall, a small smile on his face as he listened to the sibling banter, he almost looked like he belonged here he was that casual, wasn't he worried at all? Her Dad stood from the couch, tense in every part of his body. "What is he doing here?"

She opened her mouth to talk but shut it once again, as no words came to mind. How the hell would she break it to them?

"Umm… I have something to say." her meager voice sounded. She cleared her throat when the tense silence dragged on too long. "Umm… last weekend I went to Vegas as you know… well, Jughead was there too. To put it bluntly, we both got extremely drunk and somehow married each other." The last sentence she said in a rush, she wasn't even sure they had heard her properly; well the strained silence that then followed made it clear they had.

Her Mother started sobbing, which she thought was a bit dramatic but then when was she ever not dramatic, and her Dad, well it was hard to say. She saw the vein in his forehead throbbing, which she knew was a tell-tale sign of him being angry, furious actually, but the rest of him seemed to calm, the tenseness she had seen earlier died away, she should have realized it was only the calm before the storm.

"You got married to him?" Dad asked decidedly composed.

She nodded. "Not that I wanted to, it was a mistake, I swear."

His lip started twitching now, another sign of his anger, but one that absolutely terrified her. She had seen his vein throb before, she had seen his lip twitch, but she had never seen them happening together. She was getting scared for her life, she saw Jughead straighten up then, no longer leaning against the wall, so maybe he too saw Dad as a threat to his life.

"A mistake? Marriage is not a mistake Veronica. Spelling a word incorrectly is a mistake, throwing out the wrong piece of paper, or signing on the wrong dotted line is a mistake. Marriage is not a mistake!" His anger had now exploded. "How could you? Out of everyone you could have drunkenly married, you picked him. It's as if you were actively trying to disgrace this family."

"No Daddy, it wasn't like that."

"Then what was it like Veronica? Please do inform us because I would love to hear your excuse."

"I was drunk, it meant nothing. We've tried to fix it." Okay, she knew her Dad would be angry but she didn't actually expect him to believe that she would have done this by choice, in fact she thought he would be angrier at Jughead than at her.

"Fix it? And how have you gone about that?"

"Jughead talked to his lawyer about getting an annulment, but we don't have enough evidence to support our claim of intoxication."

"Oh so he talked to his lawyer, you didn't think about going to your own?"

"I knew Mr. Davies would just run to you if she had."

"Yes, yes he would Veronica, because he actually knows something about loyalty, which apparently you don't." Dad yelled, his voice getting even angrier. "Out of everything you've done, I never would have expected you to do this."

"Daddy, I'm sorry, but it's going to be fixed, I promise." her mood had changed from disbelief and fear, into sadness now. She didn't want Dad to be angry at her, or disappointed in her. She wanted him to help her, and she thought he would, but now she was unsure.

"And how exactly are you going to fix it? By getting a divorce and letting everyone find out about your drunken frivolity, you would only drag our family name through the mud if you did that. So tell me, Veronica, how are you going to fix it?"

"I don't know, but I'll figure something out." her voice sounded pleading then.

"Well you better Veronica, because while you're married to him, you are not a part of this family."

"What? What do you mean? Of course, I'm part of this family."

"Not while you're associated with him, let me make that much clear right now. You married him, that was your choice and you decided to abandon your family in the process," he said while raising his hand toward her.

In a voice far too calm for the occasion, Jughead spoke for the first time since arriving. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, then who would be the person dragging the family name through the mud? You hate me and my family so I understand your reaction to the situation, but that's no reason to get violent with your own daughter, you want to hit someone then you hit me. The marriage was a bad choice that both Veronica and I made and we will fix it have no doubt, but bear in mind, that at least for the meantime, Veronica is my wife and I will protect her, even if it is against her own family."

"Get out of my house."

Jughead evenly meet Dad's eye for a moment or two, until he turned around and walked back to her, he nodded to the door, indicating it was time to go.

She turned to look at Mother, but found that sometime during the argument she had gotten up and left, so that left only Dad. He looked at her, eyes full anger.

"You too can get out. I don't ever want to see you again, understand?"

"But Daddy-"

"Do you understand?" He yelled.

She nodded before turning around and walking out of the house behind Jughead. They both climbed into the car, silent and tense. She wanted to cry, honestly she did, her family had abandoned her, and they didn't seem to want to help her out at all. She understood why Dad was angry, but she didn't get why he reacted the way he had, wouldn't it be more beneficial to him to support her in this and get her out of this, because now it was practically all up to the Jones's to sort it out, that's depending on how they would react to the news however. But why did Dad think she had planned this? This whole situation was a nightmare for her, why in hell would she purposely put herself in it? Yet Dad didn't even really give her a chance to explain.

She wanted to cry, but she couldn't, not in front of Jughead at least she would never lower herself to that because crying showed weakness, and she couldn't ever be weak in front of him.

"I'm sorry." Jughead's voice suddenly sounded.

"For what?" her voice sounded dull, though a bit surprised, she didn't think Jughead had ever apologized to her before.

"I think I just made things worse and for that I am sorry."

"It’s fine Jughead, you just wanted to help, I can't fault you for that." she sighed then. "Are your parents going to be home by now?"

Jughead glanced at the clock. "Yeah, they should be, Jellybean might be there as well."

"Well might as well get this over with then, let's hope it goes a bit better."


	3. Chapter 3

The large sprawling house that Jughead pulled up in front of was one she remembered, it was the same house Jughead had lived in when they were children, before the family blow out and animosity. She hadn't realized they had stayed here, though why wouldn't they, the house was insanely beautiful. She had always been envious of this house when she was younger, in fact she distinctly remember her five-year-old self announcing to her Mother that she was going to marry Jughead when she was older just so she could live here, strange how insightful that was.

It was a house design inspired by those old Tuscan Villas, with its creamy walls, terracotta roof and wooden window shutters it was easy to see how she had fallen in love with it, yet even though it was a large house it always had that homely feel to it that her own seemed to lack, though that might be something to do with the fact that Jughead's Mother focused more on her family and household than on social events.

Her eyes trailed over to the house next door, half covered by the trees and a high solid fence, but she could still see it and remember it even better than the house they currently stood in front of. That used to be her own house as a child, not long after their Fathers business split they had sold up and moved away, she remembered that day clearly as well. The image of a seven-year-old Jughead and his younger sister Jellybean standing at their front gate waving good-bye as she looked out the back window had been ingrained on her memory, that was probably the last time she had seen this neighborhood.

"This place looks exactly the same," she said as she turned to face Jughead.

He smiled. "Don't tell Mom that, she's hugely proud of how her garden turned out after re-doing the landscaping a few years ago." He rolled his eyes as he obviously thought his Mother was a nut-case for having pride in her garden.

She looked around her then, noticing the trimmed hedges and blooming flowers that had been noticeably absent during the days when Jughead, Jellybean, and she would be running about.

"Huh, so it has," she said almost distractedly as she took in all the now apparent changes.

"Okay Ronnie Bonnie, let's just get this over with, yeah?"

A scowl took over her face when he used her old nickname, but reluctantly she followed him. The entrance hall was exactly how she remembered it, marble floors, sweeping staircases on both sides and a large chandelier hanging down from the center of the room. She could feel herself falling in love with it all over again. She followed Jughead to an area of the house she remembered was the main living area, though they must have renovated it since she was last here as it looked completely different.

The first person she saw was Jughead's Father sitting on the couch watching what she thought was the same replay her own Dad had been watching. He was wearing black dress pants and a white button-down shirt, though the first couple of buttons were undone and she saw a jacket and tie hanging off the back of the couch behind him, clearly he hadn't been home very long then.

"Who's winning Dad?" Jughead called out as they entered the room.

"Patriots, though not for long I hope," he called back, not even looking over at them.

Jughead chuckled, she had a feeling he had already seen this game and from what she remember hearing the Patriots do end up winning.

"Hey Dad, you remember Veronica, right?" Jughead said after a moment of silence, his voice was now slightly uneasy, was he expecting the same reaction as her Dad had shown?

Mr. Jones then looked over his shoulder, looking at her before frowning and standing up to face them, the game momentarily forgotten. He looked relatively the same as when she had last seen him, though with more wrinkles and more grey hair, in fact he practically looked like an older version of Jughead.

"Well I'll be dammed," he said and she prepared herself for the anger, for the accusations. "Veronica Lodge never thought I would ever see you in this house again." And then a large smile broke out on his face.

What? He smiled at her? She thought they were supposed to hate each other, so why was he being so… nice. What happened to the Lodge-Jones rivalry?

"Yeah, well I need to tell you something. Is Mom here?" Jughead said, that uncertainty in his voice coming through once more.

Mr. Jones nodded. "Gladys, Gladys come here for a second will you? You'll never guess who's come round for a visit," he called into an adjacent room.

She could hear Mrs. Jones sigh in an annoyed manner at being 'summoned' by her husband before she appeared in the doorway across from them. Again she looked relatively the same as when she last saw her, though her once long brown hair had been cut short into a mature 'mommy' cut and the crow's feet around her eyes had deepened.

"Oh," she paused in the door way once she saw Veronica. "That's not little old Veronica is it? Good gosh you have grown." Again she had been expecting some sort of anger, but it never showed on her kind face.

She walked over to her and grasped her shoulders between her fingers. "Gosh look at you, what a beautiful young lady you have become. I always knew you would be stunning, of course your Mother is but she's always been far too serious over the years and it's starting to show." She seemed to 'oh' and 'ah' a bit more, which was making her uncomfortable, in desperation she looked over at Jughead who seemed to be enjoying this far too much.

Mrs. Jones let her go then, turning her attention on her son. "I always told you to marry a girl like Veronica; I would get very adorable looking grandchildren then. It's a pity you're far too stuck in your womanizing ways."

The amusement faded from his face almost as quickly as the shock covered hers. Well that was in interesting bit of information, though one that was thoroughly disgusting.

"God Mom, could you make it anymore awkward?" A new voice then sounded.

She looked over at the door Mrs. Jones had appeared from and saw the youngest Jones leaning against the door frame in a way reminiscent of how Jughead stood at her own parent's house. Jellybean was a couple years younger than them, graduated from college last year and had been working at Jones Financing just like Jughead.

Jughead cleared his throat then, interrupting before his Mother could reply. "I actually have something to say," he announced, "It may be kind of shocking."

Mr. Jones sighed then, "Of course it's going to be shocking, it involves Veronica obviously. Come on Gladys we better sit down for this."

Once the two parents had settled down on the couch, Jellybean adamantly staying in the doorway, Jughead once again cleared his throat.

"So sometime during my last night in Vegas with Archie, we ran into Veronica and a couple of her friends-"

"Oh this is going to be good," Jellybean cheekily said, Jughead shot her a look before continuing.

"Anyway, in our drunken stupidity we decided to visit a place that specializes in drunken-spare-of-the-moment weddings…" Jughead voice trailed off, filling the room with an uncomfortable silence.

"No fucking way! Holy shit you did not," Jellybean said amusement and disbelief covering her face.

"I don't get what you're trying to say Jug," Mrs. Jones said hesitantly.

Jughead hesitated, probably getting annoyed at Jellybean's laughter as much as she was. "I'm trying to say that Veronica and I got married in Vegas," he ended the sentence with a sigh.

Out of all the reactions she expected to that admission, she did not foresee this.

Mr. Jones started laughing as loudly as Jellybean, clearly they both found the situation hilarious. Mrs. Jones however, smiled one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen and her eyes started watering, a similar reaction that her own Mother had, though the tears were for an entirely different reason.

"Oh, isn't that wonderful. I always knew you two would end up together one day," she said through her happiness.

"No, Mom it's not wonderful," Jughead's voice had risen and now anger was coming through. "We didn't want this to happen, hence why it was a drunken Vegas wedding and not a proper one. Jesus Christ what is wrong with you?"

"Okay Jug, that's no way to speak to your Mother regardless of the unfortunate situation." Mr. Jones said, recovering from his laughter, "Jellybean, quieten up now or just leave okay?"

Jellybean then, through quite a bit of effort, stopped her laughter.

"Okay, so I'm presuming you want to end this marriage?" Mr. Jones asked. Jughead and she both nodded, much to Mrs. Jones's disappointment. "Okay, have you talked to Michael about getting an annulment?"

"Yeah I talked to him about it and he made some inquiries. We don't have enough evidence for the annulment to be considered."

Mr. Jones nodded, "Okay, so that leads to divorce then. I'm sure we'll be able to make that as quick and painless as possible. Have you told your parents yet Veronica?" she nodded and Mr. Jones grimaced. "I can only guess how well that went, lots of yelling and lecturing I expect."

"Dad disowned me and practically threw me out of the house," she said, in the most emotionless voice she could muster.

There was a moment of stunned silence. "Wow, I knew your Dad was a tight ass but even I wouldn't have expected that. He really disowned you?" Jellybean said.

Jughead nodded as she answered, "Yeah, as long as I'm associated with anything Jones I'm not a part of his family. He's very good at holding grudges."

Both Jughead and Jellybean scoffed at that.

"Well you're always welcome in this family Veronica, whether or not it was a mistake marriage," Mrs. Jones announced.

She honestly didn't know how to feel about that, or any of the Jones's reactions to her all. Why didn't they hate her? Why were they so accepting and kind? It felt weird, like an alternate universe or something, where was their anger? Or even disappointment at Jughead's stupidity? They were just so calm and supportive, if anything they found the situation more amusing than anything else. It was a stark contrast to her family's reaction; it confused her as to why, her curiosity started spiking but she knew this was not a good time to bring it up. It was better to have one family supporting them than none.

"Now come on, sit down, I was just about to serve afternoon tea. Why don't we talk about this while we eat?" Mrs. Jones said standing up and indicating to the vacant couch, "Drinks anyone? I just made a fresh batch of homemade lemonade this morning if anyone's interested."

They all signaled for a drink and Mrs. Jones disappeared into the other room while Jughead and she sat down on the couch and Jellybean made her way to the armchair in the corner.

"So Veronica how's everything been, aside from this debacle with Jug?" Mr. Jones asked, "I hear you got a promotion recently."

She nodded. "Yeah, Junior Executive, it was good, really good. But I think in disowning me Dad also fired me, so… no more of that."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. If you're looking for work I'm sure we'll have something available in the office, temporarily of course until this is all sorted out."

"Oh no," she shook her head adamantly, "Marrying a Jones is one thing; working for them would be a whole other shit storm I really don't want to get caught in." The three Jones had a bit of a chuckle about that. "But thanks for the offer," she politely tacked on the end at the last minute, after all Mr. Jones was being extremely thoughtful and generous given the situation.

"Well I'm sure you'll be back on your feet in no time. There are companies out there that would near on kill to have you."

"Why because of my name?" she asked seriously, she forever had a stigma associated with her name, and not one she liked. At college doing her business degree, her lectures would always except more out of her, when she started work her co-workers only thought she was the boss's daughter who couldn't actually do anything right. She soon proved them wrong, but needless to say she was rather sensitive to the presumptions people made about her.

"No, because you are a Yale graduate with over three years' experience in one of the biggest firms in the city. Your name isn't the only outstanding thing on your CV, dear," Mr. Jones said evenly turning his eyes back to the game.

She felt her eyes narrow slightly, did he just compliment her? Why would he do that? He almost seemed proud of her achievements, though it also sounded condescending to her, was Yale suddenly not good enough now, or was more of the fact that for the last three years she had essentially been working in competition to him?

Mrs. Jones then made her reappearance carrying a tray loaded with full glasses of her homemade lemonade, she was thankful for the distraction, she couldn't quite figure out how to reply to Mr. Jones, was he genuinely giving her a compliment or was it merely a sugar-coated snide remark about Lodge Industries?

The men then all started up a conversation about the game that was playing, a conversation she played no part in, her knowledge at football was basic at most,

"Right, so what are you two going to do now?" Mr. Jones suddenly said, she looked back at the TV to realize the game had gone to half-time break or something, or maybe it had finished, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Get a divorce," Jughead said simply, like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

Mr. Jones paused for a moment, letting the statement hang in the air, "I don't think it will be that easy Jug."

"Then we will have to make it as easy as possible." Jughead replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not like we have to split our things in half or anything, it's probably going to be the most straight-forward divorce on record."

"And what happens when people find out about it? Divorces are quite often on public records, you can't expect to keep this quiet."

"Then we'll just put up with it."

"At what cost though?" Mr. Jones said serious, almost interrupting Jughead. "A Las Vegas wedding and subsequent quick divorce will reflect badly on you, and the company. How many shareholders do you think we'll lose? Or profits? Half our public image will be shot and the PR team will have to work over time. Have you really thought through the consequences?"

Jughead remained silent, probably trying to resolve the problem.

"Is there a way to keep it off public records?" she asked in a soft voice.

Mr. Jones shrugged. "I don't know I'll have to talk to the lawyers about it. Either way I think you should both think about the next course of action if divorce is out of the question?"

"What else are we supposed to do?" There was a hint of anger in Jughead's voice then, or maybe it was desperation.

Mr. Jones shrugged once again, "I have no idea, hopefully we can think of something though."

"And if we can't?"

"Then I guess you're stuck for a while aren't you?" Mr. Jones replied with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Oh finally, the end of all that philandering of yours Jughead," Mrs. Jones said, far too gleeful for the occasion. "You really do need to start settling down and making me some grand babies, Honey."

Jellybean, Jughead and she only stared at her in disbelief, and slight disgust, how could she have gotten that out of this conversation?

Jughead stood up and shook his head then, "Well consider me out Mom; no way am I having kids in the near future. Come on Veronica, I'll drop you home."

She stood up in a rush and followed Jughead out of the room, a chorus of farewells echoing after them; hastily she let off her own, not knowing how exactly she was supposed to act around the family.

"Sorry about my Mom," Jughead sighed after they seated ourselves in the car. "Ever since Jellybean left home for college she's become obsessed with grandchildren, she think she feels lost without having children to dote on all the time."

She smiled a little at that, Mrs. Jones was far too maternal for her own good sometimes. She always wondered why they only had two kids; it was no secret that she wanted a large family; suppose Mr. Jones thought it was enough.

"Hope she's not expecting anything out of this marriage."

"God no, I'll have to reiterate the situation for her. I don't think she understands the concept of a drunken Las Vegas wedding." Jughead said.

They fell into silence, not overly an uncomfortable one but definitely one that had her squirming in her seat a little. She didn't even know how to form a civil conversation with Jughead after over a decade of fighting and snide remarks, she felt strange just sitting here next to him in his car, she keep feeling like she need to glare at him or yell at him for something, being civil, or at least trying to, was a difficult thing for her to comprehend when it came to Jughead, they were always arguing about something or building ammunition against each other, there had never been a peaceful moment between them, it was always charged with something, usually anger.

She really hoped they could get this divorce done sooner rather than later, and then it would just go back to normal between them.


	4. Chapter 4

"What's your number?" Jughead suddenly asked when he pulled to a stop in front of her apartment building, she turned to him confused. "In case I need to call you about this divorce thing." He added slowly like she was stupid.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket before she started rattling off her number straight after, her own phone started ringing inside of her bag.

"There now you have my number as well," Jughead said, shutting off the ringing, "Call me if you need anything." He had turned to look at her, the sentence he said seemed innocent enough, they were married and going through a divorce after all, but there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite pinpoint, a deeper meaning behind his words that she couldn't quite understand.

She shook her head before gathering her things, "Yeah sure. See you around."

She walked to the front door of her apartment building, hearing Jughead's car pulled away from the curb. She pulled her phone out of her bag whilst waiting for the elevator and saved the unknown number that had called her, even though she was fairly positive she wouldn't need to call him for anything any time soon.

As she neared her apartment door she began to yearn for her comfortable couch, long gone was her lazy Sunday instead she had a rather eventful one, but right now Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a good movie sounded like the best laid plan she had ever heard. Though her plans were foiled after she opened her door to find Josie and Cheryl lying across the couch watching some reality show she couldn't give two fucks about.

"You know, that spare key I gave you was meant to be for emergencies only," she announced, gaining their attention.

Josie gave a secretive smile. "You know we don't class emergencies the same. Case in point, Cheryl and I told you we were coming around today but you wouldn't open the door, worried that you had come to harm I used the emergency key to get in and check."

"And when you found the place empty?" she inquired raising her eyebrow.

"I figured some shit had gone down, you wouldn’t sacrifice your lazy Sunday for anything other than emergencies so we figured it would probably be best if we waited until you got home to see how you were doing, must admit you took a bit longer than expected."

"Is everything okay Vee?" asked Cheryl.

It was then that all the emotions came running back, the emotions she had so adamantly hid from Jughead. Her dad had disowned her and mother couldn't even bare to look at her. Josie and Cheryl saw the change of emotions on her face almost immediately and stood up, rushing over to her just as the tears began to escape.

They wrapped their arms around her and lead her to the couch, the sobs escaping from her body. She couldn't say how long she cried, Josie rubbing her back and Cheryl whispering words of comfort. By the time she shed the last of her tears it was darkening outside, though it was already late afternoon by the time she got home, so she didn't find that too alarming, a pile of used tissues lay on the coffee table and her face no doubt looked like a bomb site, she was well aware of the fact that she did not look attractive after a crying jag. Red swollen eyes, make up messed up and blotchy skin, yeah just call her the female goddess of beauty.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Cheryl asked softly, she could clearly see the concern written all over her face, the same as Josie though she looked a bit in shock as well, she couldn't blame her. Josie had never seen her this way before, they only became friends after Veronica moved back to New York after college.

She took a deep shuddering sigh and began to retell her day. Both of them were silent during her tale, waiting until she had finished before they began to express their opinions.

"Your dad disowned you? I knew he was crazy serious about the Jones's, but disowning you?"

"The Jones's were nice to you? They even seemed to like you?"

"Jughead stood up to your dad, wow he has bigger balls than I realized."

"So you might not be able to get a divorce? What's going to happen now?"

She waited until the chorus of questions stopped, honestly it seemed like Cheryl and Josie were each having their own conversations, they may have been holding in all their questions and opinions until the end, but that didn't mean they still didn't voice them. It wasn't until Josie's gem, and quite frankly disturbing thought, that the stream of questions ended abruptly.

"So you got Jughead's number, can I have it?"

She looked at her dumbfounded, her mouth opening and closing uselessly as she stuttered out incoherent sounds. "What?" she finally asked as the intelligent woman she was.

Josie merely shrugged. "You have to admit the guy is a looker, Veronica. Even with all your prejudice towards him you have to see it, how could you not?"

She almost visibly swooned then, while Cheryl was merely looking at the ceiling with that dreamy look in her eye.

"No, I will not admit it because I don't see it. Even if he was the most handsome man on the whole planet I wouldn't be able to see it behind his horrible personality," she replied huffily, were her friends now turning on her too?

"Well judging on what you just told us, his horrible personality isn't looking that horrible now is it? He stood up for you against your dad, I mean no one does that, it does seem like he's trying to look out for you in all of this," Cheryl said.

"No he's not Cher, he's only trying to protect his own ass in this whole divorce thing. The way he probably sees it is that I have nowhere to go and no one to impress anymore, what's stopping me from going public with this whole thing? It would ruin his whole image and his sex life probably."

"It wouldn't ruin your sex life though," Josie stated.

"Why do you say that?"

"You're his wife; you can jump him whenever you want. I have heard from multiple women that he is rather gifted in bed; why not take advantage of that?"

"That's not going to happen Josie," her voice was turning hard now, her anger seeping into it.

"Well why not? If it turns out he isn't that great, well then it's something you can use against him for the rest of your life, and if he is that good you'll at least be a sexually satisfied divorcee. I honestly don't see the problem here."

"Then you've gone insane and I'm going to have you admitted in the psych ward. This is Jughead we're talking about Josie; I still hate him even after I drunkenly married him; that has most definitely not changed," she sighed then, hoping she would just drop the subject. "Now, can we start talking about what I'm going to do to sort this all out?"

"You could call Jughead and get him over here, I'm sure sleeping with him will get your mind off it," Josie put her hands up in an innocent way when she saw the glare she was giving her. "Okay, okay I'll stop."

She continued glaring at her until Cheryl spoke up. "Well, I'm sure when this is all done your dad will take you back. He probably only said that stuff because he was angry, once he's calmed down and actually thought about it, he'll realize he made a mistake."

"Yeah, Cher’s right Veronica, your dad was just overreacting, saying shit he didn't mean. Though I think you should go to your own lawyer and see what he says about this whole situation, as much as Jughead wants to get out of this marriage, if it comes down to him having to protect himself or you, well we all know who he'll pick, it'll be best to get your own protection against him."

"I don't know if I can go to my lawyer though after what Daddy said. They'll do anything to stay in his good books and I would hate to put them in the middle of it," she leaned back on the couch, this whole situation looking more and more dire.

The girls were silent for a second. "My brother’s a lawyer, I'm sure he would help you out," Cheryl said brightening up.

She thought about it for a second, "Sure why not? It wouldn't hurt to go have a meeting with him and get his opinion."

Cheryl almost jumped up off the couch, "I'll go call him now and set up a meeting, he'll be happy to help I assure you." At that she ran across the room and pulled her phone out of her hand bag.

"Everything will work out fine, Veronica, you know that right?" Josie said. She turned to look at her then, her dark eyes concerned yet holding a determined glint.

Veronica nodded sullenly. "Yeah, eventually anyway. But we all know how well Daddy can hold grudges."

"Well no matter what happens, I'm here for you, and Cher is as well," Josie pulled her into a tight hug, letting her lean on her shoulder and tries to keep herself under control. "Forgetting my remarks earlier, Jughead is a good guy Veronica, sure he is one hell of a cocky bastard but I've never heard about him being malicious or intentionally mean to someone. If there is one sworn enemy that you could drunkenly marry, I think you picked the best one."

She gave a weak laugh at that one, "So what you're trying to tell me is that it isn't the end of the world."

She felt Josie smile, "Something like that. Besides, at least you would have proved Nick wrong if this ever comes out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one reason he broke up with you is because you're so uptight and un-spontaneous, blah blah blah, something like that right? Well I don't think anyone could top your spontaneity right now," she rolled by eyes at Josie's logic, somehow being cheered up. "You just got to think of some positives, I would almost pay to see Nick's reaction if he ever finds out."

"God that makes two of us, imagine what he would say. I always had inkling that he secretly admired Jughead as well, though that might be something to do with sexual predator ways rather than anything creditable."

Josie laughed loudly at that, "I think every man in New York admires Jughead's 'sexual predator ways' as you put it, and who wouldn't, that man knows how to bed hop alright."

"Well here's to hoping he doesn't hop in mine."

Josie sighed, "Act as blasé as you want sweetie, but I bet by the end of this you'll be wanting him in it," she didn't even dignify that with a response.

Cheryl came bounding back over then, "Jason said he scheduled you in for one o'clock, is that good? I can change it if you want."

She nodded. "That's fine, thanks Cher; I'll have to get the address off you before you leave."

"I already text it to you, figured you would have your phone on you anyway," Cheryl smiled, sitting herself back down beside her, eyes turning back to the TV for a moment. "It's strange seeing you this upset, even after you and Nick broke up you seemed more put together, then you just seemed determined to prove him wrong, show him what he was missing kind of thing."

"Well what better way than to marry a man I can't stand to be in the same room with," she replied weakly. "Besides, I think I'm more upset by my family's reaction than actually marrying Jughead, that can be fixed eventually, but we all know how stubborn my dad can be."

There was a silence then; both of them knew how dire the family front was at the moment, there wasn't a hell of a lot to say to change that.

She sat up from leaning against Josie then. "Suppose I should call Jughead and get him to send me copies of his lawyer's report, I don't think your brother would appreciate me turning up empty-handed."

She dug her phone out of her bag and headed into the kitchen for a little more privacy.

"Hello," Jughead's voice sounded through the device.

"Hey Jughead. It's Veronica." she paused for a second then, a pause he seemed eager to take.

"Oh hey Ronnie Bonnie, wasn't expecting you to call so soon." she could tell he was smirking by the tone in his voice, which just irritated her. "Looking for a booty call?"

She scoffed, "As if I would lower my standards that far, if I wanted a booty call I would be able to find someone much more suitable."

"It's not about suitability Bonnie, it's about how good he is in bed."

"Oh good thing I wouldn't call you then, we both know how unsatisfying that would be," he could now undoubtedly hear the smirk in her own voice.

"Oh you know how to cut a man deep, don't you? You shouldn't criticize something you don't remember trying though."

"But I've heard plenty about it; honestly I don't know why you brag so much Jughead, from what I hear the women say, they aren't overly impressed." That was a blatant lie, but he didn't have to know that.

He chuckled then, "Yeah, is that why they always come running back?"

It took her a moment to think of a comeback then, he almost had her, "Well, some of them are nice enough to give you another try; I mean they don't really believe you can be that bad."

He chuckled once more. "Believe what you want Veronica. Anyway," his voice had grown serious now. "If not a booty call then why were you calling?" he merely sounded curious, like he didn't actually believe she would actually call him even though he gave her his number.

"Oh, I'm meeting with a lawyer tomorrow, I was hoping I could get copies of your lawyer's report and stuff so then he'll be all caught up on the situation."

There was a pause then. "You're meeting with a lawyer?" He sounded surprised. "Not your Dad's one right?"

"No, definitely not, just a friend really who'll give me their opinion."

"What you don't trust my own lawyer?" He almost sounded offended.

"It's not that Jughead, I just want another opinion," she sighed. "Now will you give me those reports or will I have to start from scratch?"

"Yeah I'll drop a folder off tomorrow morning on my way to work, is that good for you?"

She smiled. "Yeah that's perfect, thanks."

"Let me know how it goes, yeah?"

"Yeah I will." There was an awkward silence then; it was weird to actually think of saying goodbye to him because usually they just stormed away from each other, she almost thought of just hanging up and leaving it there, but then she remembered she was actually trying to remain civil to him. "Night Jughead."

"G'night Ronnie Bonnie," she rolled her eyes at that stupid nickname once again as she hang up her phone; she wish he would just forget it.

Cheryl and Josie left just before eleven o'clock, she would have preferred to have them both stay for the night but unlike her they were both still employed and since Cheryl was going upstate to visit her family later in the week, she had a lot of work to do before she left. She would hate to be the one who caused her to get behind; she knew how easily Cheryl stressed out. Besides, there was only so much ice cream and reality TV could do for cheering her up.

She set her alarm clock for seven o'clock, she figured that was probably a good time to get up and prepare for Jughead's appearance, though it felt like she barely slept before the alarm was going off. In truth she had stayed up crying half the night, she couldn't get the looks of her family members out of her mind, she couldn't get the sound of her Dad's voice angrily yelling at her out of her head, she had practically ruined everything she had with her family because she had stupidly gotten so drunk. She still didn't even remember that night properly so she still had no idea what made her want to marry Jughead in the first place, yet for this unknown reason she had practically discarded her family.

When she cracked her swollen eyes open in the morning, she just lay there staring at her alarm clock as it blared at her, she didn't even have the energy to turn it off, well more like the will to turn it off. She almost felt like she deserved the torturous sound echoing in her ears, this was what she deserved.

Eventually she made it out of bed and shut it off. She walked into the kitchen and turned on her coffee maker, there was nothing she needed more than a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Just when the coffee was poured and ready to drink, a knock sounded at the door.

Her eyes traveled to the clock on her wall, seven forty-five, why was Jughead here this early? She didn't think he would try to get to the office until nine, but at this rate he would be there at least half an hour early.

Reluctantly, she put down her cup of coffee and opened the door.

"Don't you look like shit?" was the greeting she received. She honestly hadn't gone to look at herself in the mirror yet, but she didn't doubt it, like she said she had been up half the night crying, she was sure that it would show in her face and red swollen eyes.

She stepped away from the door and back towards her coffee, cradling it in her hands as Jughead walked in and closed the door behind him. Even though she hated him in her apartment, she would rather him in here than standing outside where anyone could see him, and didn't think she missed the fact that while she was so thoroughly looking 'like shit', as he put it, Jughead was dressed and styled immaculately in a tailored Armani suit. God, she hated it.

"Yeah, good morning to you too," she replied sarcastically. "Why are you here so early? I thought you started at nine."

"I've got an early meeting I need to prepare for, going to try and steal a Lodge client, you wouldn't have any tips would you?"

She scoffed. "During a cold day in Hell maybe."

"Yeah it was either that or over your cold dead body, right?" Jughead replied with amusement laced in his voice. "Anyway, here's the folder, they're all copies and my lawyer has the originals if you need them down the line or whatever."

Jughead placed a plain manila folder down on her dining table; it looked relatively thicker than she expected it to.

"Thanks, I'll text you this afternoon after my meeting."

There was a silence then, she had expected Jughead to leave, and after all he had an important meeting soon. But instead he stood there, evaluating her it seemed. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, before a determined expression crossed his face and it opened once more.

"Are you okay?" The hardness in his expression was contrasted with the softness in voice.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied firmly, she was not going to get into her feelings and emotions with Jughead of all people, clearly she was upset but that didn't give him the right to ask about it.

"You know you're not a very good liar."

"You know you're not exactly my friend, why would I tell you the truth?"

She saw his jaw twitch then as he clenched and unclenched it.

"Right well I expect to hear from you later then," his voice was stiff, and he didn't even give her a chance to reply as he walked out and closed the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

Jason Blossom was not what she really expected of Cheryl's brother, Cheryl the flamboyant redhead seemed to be the complete opposite of the stern-faced lawyer.

At first she hadn't tried to expect anything when she got out of the taxi and saw the building where the office was. She was used to buildings that were over twenty-stories high, bustling with successful people in suits and arrogant expressions, Lodge Industries only associated with the best after all. This building was in an area she didn't often frequent, that she almost felt out-of-place standing on the sidewalk in her tailored pants and blazer, and at only eight stories high she didn't even have to cramp her neck to see the top of it.

She trusted Cheryl though, and this was her brother she was seeing, she said he was good so he must be.

When she exited the elevator, Jason was on the sixth floor, she was pleasantly surprised to see how nice it looked. A large reception desk took up the majority of the room which proudly boasted the company name, a few chairs were along one wall and the potted plants dotted about gave the room a serene feeling.

She approached the reception desk and kindly requested directions to Mr. Blossom office, which the elderly woman gave and asked if she would like a hot drink brought for her, of course she politely declined, she wouldn't want her coming into the office and overhearing the reason she was here, or even realizing who she was.

Jason stood from the desk when she entered after knocking, a tight professional smile spread across his face. He held out his hand and she took it in a firm handshake, she didn’t grow up in a big financing company without learning some tricks after all.

"Jason Blossom," he introduced, indicating to the chair across from his desk.

"Veronica Lodge," she replied taking the offered chair. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

He smiled that tight smile once again, "Anything for Cheryl, she said it was rather urgent."

She nodded, "Yes unfortunately it is. I'm not entirely sure how much she told you."

"Not a lot actually, she seemed under the impression that it is a very delicate matter."

"She also seemed under the impression that you are the type of man to abide by client confidentiality, no matter the circumstance."

His face turned even more serious now, if that was even possible, "I assure you that I am. Besides, if I wasn't it would probably be safe to say your family would sue me for millions of dollars."

A sarcastic smile then spread across her face, "They have their uses."

"If you don't mind me asking Ms. Lodge, why haven't you gone to your own family lawyer about this issue? I was under the impression you had always been given the best and fairest legal advice."

"I think you'll understand why when you know the reason I am here." His eyes narrowed in curiosity. "I'm going to get straight to it, whilst in Las Vegas a couple of weekends ago – you may have heard of it, Cheryl came as well – I drunkenly married someone."

He didn't crack a smile; he didn't look shocked, instead his eyebrows creased in a bit more, "And you don't want your parents to know…?"

"No, I told them yesterday. My dad disowned me."

Now there was a reaction. His eyebrows rose then, in surprise she would have to guess. "He disowned you? I always thought he seemed like a supportive father, wouldn't he want to try to get you out of this?"

"Well unfortunately for me, I chose to marry Jughead Jones in my drunken haze. Some might say his fury was well justified then," she must say he knew how to handle his emotions, his eyebrows merely sunk back down into their serious expression at the mention of Jughead's name. "I presume you understand why I can't go to my usual lawyer now?"

He gave a short curt nod, "I would also presume Mr. Jones would have his own lawyers look at the case?"

It was then that she withdrew the folder Jughead had dropped off this morning, "They compiled that last week and came to the conclusion that annulment is out of the question."

Jason took the folder off her, she sat there for what must have been ten, fifteen minutes in silence as he read over the pages and notes the folder contained.

He sighed when he looked up at her, "And what exactly did you come here for?"

She shrugged her shoulders, for the first time in his presence that she showed vulnerability. "I guess I wanted to make sure I wasn't being played, wanted to know my options and your thoughts."

"This Mr. Hatfield conducted a very thorough investigation Ms. Lodge, he consulted several judges and colleagues on the evidence and they all say the same thing, it's not enough for an annulment." He paused then, "The only way I can see this being resolved is through a divorce, I'm sure you know how messy and tiresome they can be, but it seems to be your only option at this time."

"And in terms of keeping it quiet, making sure no one will find out about it?"

He shrugged then, "I'm not entirely sure that's possible unfortunately. You can try to keep it as low-key as possible, but if someone goes snooping it'll be easy to find."

"So you're in complete agreement with Mr. Hatfield on this?"

"Yes I am."

"And there's nothing else I can do?"

"Not from what I can see, I will remind you at this point though that I am not a divorce lawyer, you may have some more luck if you consult someone specialized to these sorts of situations."

"But even then annulment is off the table?"

"Undoubtedly."

She sighed then and placed her face on her hand, muttering about how absolutely perfect this situation was.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be any more help Ms. Lodge."

She looked up at Jason a small smile on her face. "No, it's not your fault; some people just can't handle Vegas apparently." He handed her back the folder and she put it away in her bag. "Thank you for everything."

"No problem, if there's anything else you need don't hesitate to call."

"I will, thank you," she stood then, gave him another handshake said farewell and made her way out of the office.

That had most definitely been a waste of time.

She walked out on to the street and pulled her phone out of bag, waving down a taxi and heading back to her apartment, she dialed Jughead's number.

"Jughead Jones," he answered in a rushed sort of voice.

"Veronica Lodge," she imitated, yes sometimes she did love to act like a five-year old.

She heard him sigh and had a feeling he might have repressed a laugh.

"You were right," she added, back to using her haughty tone of voice. It wasn't very often she said that to Jughead, in fact she probably had never said that to him before, it was a bit of a knock to her pride.

"Well I usually am, what is it about this time?"

If he was here with her she would have glared at him, hadn't the dumbass figured out why she was calling yet?

"My lawyer agreed with yours," she wouldn't out right talk about the annulment in public, even if there was only a cab driver to overhear her. You never really knew how word got around.

He paused for a moment, "Oh, you've finished your meeting then?"

"Obviously," she huffed.

"So what does he suggest?"

"The same as yours, it seems to be our only option."

"Well dad's meeting with the lawyers tomorrow to go over how it would all work and what would need to be done."

She nodded before she remembered he couldn't actually see her. "Okay, so I guess we'll probably need to meet up a bit later in the week to go over it all."

"Yeah, I don't know how long it'll take to get a report back to dad, but I'll give you a call when I get it."

"And until then, what… I just go into stasis?"

"Yeah something like that I guess," he replied with a mocking edge to his voice. "If you really wanted I'm sure mom would love some company, she's so excited about getting to know her new daughter-in-law."

"Oh go to hell," she growled down the phone before hanging up on him. In no way did she need the awkward situation of hanging out with his family, let alone how much more that would damage her relationship with her family.

She hated the thought of just sitting around waiting for something to happen as well, she had never felt like a situation was more out of her control before, it made her antsy, yet she couldn't go to work or do anything else relatively productive. She could feel herself going crazy already and she hadn't even made it home yet.

\-----

It was now Wednesday, in her state of stressed boredom she had gone around her whole apartment cleaning it from top to bottom, clearing out all her cupboards of useless and broken things and even filled a rubbish sack of clothes she would give to charity. She had now run out of things to do.

She had sat on her couch all morning, trying to decide whether she should go to her parents and try to talk some sense into them. They have had a couple of days to cool down, and maybe if she don't bring Jughead along this time then they might actually let her talk and explain things. She was nervous though, she didn't want them to hate her, she didn't want them to yell at her and reject her, at the moment she could at least live in ignorant bliss that they had calmed down and were just waiting for her to get divorced before welcoming her back into the family.

But what if that wasn't the case? What if father was never going to forgive her for this? Knowing that would only make this whole situation worse for her. But she needed to know what they think, were they still angry or just more discontented with the situation? Would they forgive her? Would they accept it as a mistake?

To answer those questions she needed to talk to them, but talking to them might only make her feel worse at the end of it. This was the debate she was having with herself, should she go or should she not go?

In the end she sternly told herself to toughen up, stop being such a coward and just go and see them, not knowing would only make her worry more in the long run.

That's how she found herself here, standing in front of the large wooden door trying to decide if she should knock or just walk right in. She had never had to knock before but she felt like it would be strangely intrusive if she didn't. She shrugged and just walked in any way, she doubt any of her family members would have actually answered the door; they would have just left it to Rosie or one of the others.

She walked into the living room where she had seen them last, she could hear the TV going so she presumed someone would be in there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the familiar voice belonged to her dad.

Oh shit.

"Hi Daddy," she said timidly, now that it came the time to speak with him, she seemed to have lost all of her courage.

"I asked what you are doing here."

She cleared her throat and stood up to face him, "I actually came to see you."

"So, why did you want to see me?"

"I wanted to explain, I want you to understand the situation properly. I didn't enter it willingly, you have to know that." Father wasn't the type of person who would play the avoidance; he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"So are you saying the boy forced you? He took you into this marriage against your will?" He had raised one of his eyebrows, almost like he was challenging her.

She knew then the answer he wanted to hear, she knew what she had to say to get him back on her side, get back in his good books, get back his support. She would have her job back, she would have her family back, everything would be like it had been two weeks ago, before any of this happened.

He wanted her to say yes.

But that meant she was accusing Jughead, dad would get his lawyers ready and Jughead would have to defend himself. If found guilty the marriage would be annulled, it would be over and gone because she never consented to it, but it also meant that Jughead would be guilty of everything else that came along with the marriage, it would also mean that he had essentially raped her.

The morning in Vegas when she found out she had stupidly married him, she had thought through all the situations that could have even possibly caused her to agree to marry him, never once did she think about him forcing her, and there was a simple answer as to why, it just wasn't in him. Jughead never forced anyone to do anything, sure he manipulated them and bamboozled them into thinking it was what they wanted to do – probably what he had done to get her to marry him – but he never forced anyone, especially when it came to marriage and sex. She knew he would never be found guilty anyway, there wouldn't be enough evidence, and she didn't even remember what actually happened that night. But dad just wanted to fight them.

Dad knows that even if Jughead was innocent, the case would cause huge disruption to Jones Financing. If Jughead was even accused of raping someone, half their shareholders would probably leave, Jughead's reputation would be shot and seeing as him and Jellybean are the future CEO's, the company's reputation would be shot as well.

Dad had always wanted to ruin them, and now he was seeing his chance, all she had to do was say yes.

"I'm saying that I was drunk and I was in no state of mind to give my consent," she answered smoothly. She think dad had seen the thoughts swirling around in her mind since it took her several moments to answer him.

"So either way the boy took advantage of your inebriated state to gain your hand in marriage and the events that no doubt occurred afterwards." The straight forward way her dad spoke caused a deep blush to come to her cheeks that hadn't happened before.

His eyes were staring at her, the answer he wanted to hear clearly written upon them. Say yes, he was practically begging her, say yes and everything will be forgiven.

Could she say yes? Could she accuse Jughead of practically raping her? She would have her job back, her career, the company could one day be hers, everything in her life would be stable and good and perfect, and everything she wanted to happen still could. But this time the company would have far less rivals, it would get bigger and better, they could take Jones Financing's clients and assets, and they would have more room for expansion and profits.

Dad and mother would welcome her back with open arms, this situation would never be spoken of again, and she would be their perfect overachieving daughter once more. Everything she wanted hanging in the balance of one small three-letter word.

Say it, her dad was practically screaming at her.

Her life seemed so perfect if she did, but then she thought of Jughead and his family. His mother had been so nice and happy; she would be devastated about hearing such things thrown at Jughead, devastated that her son would actually even think of doing something like that. His father had been so supportive, worried about her as well as Jughead, trying to do what's best for both of them, could she just throw that support back in his face? He may have forgiven dad for the falling out but she don't think he would ever forgive dad for doing something like this. And Jellybean with her happy easy-going personality would she be the same afterwards? Would she still offer her a happy polite smile if she ever walked past her?

But Jughead would be the worst affected. His whole charming reputation would be gone, he would be out of a job and a career, and she didn't think anyone would want to hire him, not in New York at least. She thought back on their interactions since they got married, since they were thrown into this situation.

She remembered that he had tried to comfort her, tried telling her that everything would be fine and it would all be worked out, she had hated him for it because she had seen no easy way out of this, but he had still tried, putting that effort in even though he hated her right back.

She remembered that he had stood up for her against her dad, telling him that he would protect her for as long as she was his wife. Would she stand up to her dad for him?

She remembered the way he had apologized afterward, he thought he had made the dire situation un-salvageable, but even though he hated her and would never want to apologize to her in a million years, he still sucked it up and did, no matter the hit to his pride.

She remembered the way he had seemed concerned about her the morning he dropped the folder at her apartment for her lawyer, he had noticed she was upset and actually asked if she was alright instead of just ignoring it like she would have done if the tables had been turned.

She remembered all those times he called her Ronnie Bonnie, the way the amusement to her reaction would appear on his face, making him even more eager to say it again.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't accuse him of something she knew wasn't true.

"No," she replied, her voice still smooth even though she feared her dad's reaction, this was him offering her an out and she was refusing to take it. "I'm saying both of us were drunk and in no state to give consent either way."

Her dad's face turned cold, that faint hope and excitement that was hidden in his eyes now gone. "And you think that excuses you from the decision you made?"

"No, I don't. I made a mistake and I take responsibility for my actions."

"Then why are you here?" He crossed his arms, trying to stare her down. "You know how I feel on the matter, I made that perfectly clear last time."

"I want you to understand that I'm doing everything I can to fix it, I didn't marry him to offend you or anything."

"So why did you marry him?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, I can't remember my reasoning."

She felt strangely formal talking to him, like she was in a business meeting or something. His cold demeanor only emphasized this, she felt like he was keeping her at a distance.

Her answer seemed to bring out an emotion in him though. Anger.

"So what? You turned your back on this family, yet you can't remember why?"

"I never turned my back-"

"So then how is it you married a Jones?" His voice was rising, his anger coming to the surface. "You know our feelings towards them, hell I thought you felt like that too, or has your hatred of this Jughead just been a front this whole time?"

"Dad I made a mistake, I didn't mean to marry him. It was just an unfortunate coincidence that we were both in Vegas at the same time, equally drunk and in the same club. I do hate him, really."

"Coincidence or planned? Don't forget you were the one who suggested Vegas Veronica, did you know he was going to be there as well? Did you plan meeting up with him?"

"No," she almost yelled back at him, why did she even have to defend herself on this matter? She didn't even know where Dad got his crazy little ideas from, but this one was absolutely absurd. "I don't like him; I don't want to be married to him. Why would I plan this when I know you would be angry with me?"

"Exactly what I'm trying to figure out." His voice cut her cold. "I'm trying to remember if any of us in the family insulted you or hurt you in some way before your marriage, what other reason would there be for you turning on us and completely humiliating us in such a way? Yet, I can think of nothing."

"Because no one did anything."

"So then why?"

"I've told you, I don't remember that night," she was getting frustrated now; he kept asking the same question that she couldn't even answer to herself, did he suddenly expect her to remember if he kept pushing. "I don't know how many more times I can say that Dad, I don't remember why I married him. It wasn't because of anything anyone else did, it just happened and unfortunately I can't take it back. I'm trying to fix it, I'm trying to make it up to you; doesn't that count for something?"

"No, it doesn't," she almost felt her breath being knocked out of her at that. "You can't fix a mistake like this; you can't fix an insult this great. You made your bed now lie in it, I'm sure you would prefer it be next to him."

"So you're saying that no matter what happens I still can't come back?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

She felt tears stinging at her eyes then, looking at the man who had helped raise her just throw her away seemingly that easy. Did he not care about her at all? She was his only daughter; did that mean nothing to him?

"We can't be prefect you know, and neither are you. At some point in your life you've made a mistake, but at least the people around you know how to forgive. Mr. Jones's forgiven you, did you know that?"

Dad's eyes narrowed.

"Oh and you've discussed that with him have you? On those long nights that you've been over at their house talking and mingling, it's good to see your loyalty shining through." His voice had turned mocking; it was as if he was challenging her to deny it.

"Loyalty to what dad? You've already kicked me out and turned your back, you blatantly say you don't care about me anymore, so why should I give you my loyalty?"

"Because I'm your father." He practically roared.

"And I'm your daughter! But that fact seems to hold no importance to you-"

"Because you already chose your side, you chose him over us, why should you be of any importance to us anymore?" His voice was trembling with anger, his face going red because of his shouting; she didn't think she had ever seen him this angry before. She didn't even completely understand why he was so angry, sure she married Jughead, someone he entirely hated, but she didn't think she deserved this. The pure hatred coming out of him now seemed to be a bit of overkill in her opinion, and she thought her mother was the dramatic one, now she was starting to reconsider that viewpoint. Why did he hate the Jones so much? She had always thought it was a business competition thing; she was too young to understand what initially happened to cause the fallout but had just presumed a business connection as she grew older. But now, it seemed to be something far more personal than that, why else would he be this angry?

"Why does there even have to be sides? What happened so many years ago that you can't possibly even think of forgiving them? What happened?" There was a new desperation to her voice now, desperation to understand the situation properly because clearly she had been left out in some part of it.

"Why don't you go and ask your new family? I'm sure they would love to share their version of events, go on see if you believe a word out of their mouths." His voice was cold and cutting, taunting me.

"I want to hear your version." Was all she said, trying to calm her voice back down to its normal volume.

"Well, I don't feel like telling it, not to lying untrustworthy little back-stabbers like you." He took a deep breath then. "You disgust me."

She was silent for a moment, she couldn't even think of a way to make him be rational anymore. What was the fucking point? He only saw her as a Jones now, and after all he had just said to me, she wasn't even sure she wanted him to be rational. He had shown her his true colors, the coldness and complete disregard in how he had treated her had shown how disposable she was, how everyone apparently was to him. Why would she want a dad like that? She was obviously never going to be good enough, not to him, not ever, so why should she even try anymore?

She composed her face into the most neutral expression she could muster and looked him dead in the eye. "If anyone here is more disgusting, I think we all know who it is. You obviously only care for yourself and no matter what you are always going to be looking for the faults in other people. I almost feel sorry for you, you think you're so high and mighty and above everyone else's judgement, but I would just love to hear about what people really say about you. One day you're going to look in the mirror and see what everyone else does, a vile disgusting old man who threw away everyone that cared for him. You are going to grow old and die a very lonely death that much is certain."

His face had remained passive during her little tirade, his voice was the same, "Well everyone always shows their true colors eventually, I guess it's your time to start shining then."

She scoffed. "I almost feel glad I'm not a part of this family anymore, strange how it was the Jones's that made me realize, but then again they've always seemed like a happier, better family, maybe I won't entirely regret being a part of theirs, at least while it lasts anyway," she paused then, waiting to see if Dad would jump in, he didn't. "Besides, I've only ever heard good things about Jughead's prowess, maybe he will make this worthwhile after all."

She almost saw dad flinch, almost. She guess it was a cutting offhand remark, no matter dad's earlier bravado when they were subtly talking about her sex life; one thing a Father never wanted to hear about was his daughter's activities between the sheets, especially when it occurred with a man he vilely detested with every fiber in his body. She was practically telling him that a quick romp with Jughead was worth losing everything over, even though that thought absolutely disgusted her to a point where she nearly visibly shivered in disgust, dad didn't need to know that.

"Get out of my house," his voice was deadly calm. "I hope you enjoy your life with that scum."

His anger was clear as he slammed the door behind her with a resounding bang.

She sighed, it was time she got on with her life, end of one chapter and the start of a new one, or however that saying went.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you guys think :)


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